Prominent international health and development experts have called for an end to a crisis that has claimed the lives of over 10 million children under the age of five since the start year 2000. In an open letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, the signatories highlight the desperate waste of life caused by people not having access to a basic toilet.

The letter, coordinated by the international development organisation WaterAid, has been published to coincide with World Toilet Day and the release of a new Wateraid briefing: ‘Child of Mine’ which states that sanitation ‘remains one of the most neglected issues in developing countries and international development aid’.